The Defense Department has issued guidance on how to deal with unauthorized commercial drones flying over U.S. military bases, though just how troops are able to shoot them down or disable the unmanned aircraft remains classified.

“Protecting our force remains a top priority,” Pentagon Spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis wrote in an Aug. 7 statement. “That is why the Department of Defense issued very specific, but classified, policies that detail how DoD personnel may counter the unmanned aircraft threat to personnel, vital facilities, and critical assets.”

A section of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) titled “Protection of Certain Facilities and Assets from Unmanned Aircraft,” gave the Pentagon a green light to makes plans for tracking and eliminating threatening unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flying over facilities with significance to national security.

Federal Aviation Administration National Capital Region No Drone Zone signage. Graphic: Federal Aviation Administration.
Federal Aviation Administration National Capital Region No Drone Zone signage. Graphic: Federal Aviation Administration.

“The Secretary of Defense may take, and may authorize the armed forces to take, such actions … necessary to mitigate the threat (as defined by the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation) that an unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft poses to the safety or security of a covered facility or asset,” the NDAA states.

Under the law, the Defense Department is authorized to detect, identify, monitor, and track unmanned aircraft over or near its facilities without consent of the operator. Military personnel are then authorized to warn the operator, seize, assume control of or confiscate the UAS or, “use reasonable force to disable, damage or destroy the unmanned aircraft system,” the NDAA states.

“The Department of Defense is committed to the safety and security of our personnel, installations, and equipment as well as communities near our DoD installations,” Davis said. “We support civilian law enforcement investigations and the prosecution of unauthorized UAS operations over military installations. Although we will not discuss our specific force protection measures, DoD personnel retain the right of self-defense.”

All UAS activities within the United States must follow appropriate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations and guidelines. UAS activity outside FAA rules and guidelines is considered an unauthorized activity. 

Most Defense Department facilities, including military bases are covered by heavily restricted airspace where all or most civilian aviation is prohibited, including recreational UAS operation. Not all military bases have formal restrictions, according to an interactive online FAA map. Naval Station Coronado, Calif., for instance prohibits UAS operations in its airspace, but nearby Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton does not appear to restrict UAS operation.

Meanwhile, the Washington, D.C., National Capital Region has some of the most restrictive airspace in the country with a 15-mile-radius ring from Washington Reagan National Airport within which all UAS operation is prohibited without specific permission from the FAA.